Spittin' and Drummin':
Mississippi’s 2024 Turkey Season Forecast
Mississippi’s spring turkey season opens on Friday, March 15th and ends on May 1st. Hunters aged 15 and under can get an early opportunity beginning March 8th. Due to a succession of solid hatches, this season should be one of the best in years. The following forecast breaks Mississippi’s 2024 spring season down region by region.
North Mississippi
The northern third of the state is an ideal mix of hardwoods and fields, and unsurprisingly has been home to some of Mississippi’s highest turkey harvests in recent years. Overall turkey observations in the region have trended upward the past two years. Jake sightings last spring were nearly 40% above the average of the past decade. Sightings of legal gobblers should be up this spring as a result and hunters in this region should expect a very good 2024 season.
The Delta
The lands behind the mainline Mississippi River levee system have long held some of the state’s highest turkey densities when flood waters stay at bay. Luckily for Delta hunters, it has mostly done just that for the past few years. In 2022, the MDWFP’s summer brood survey calculated Delta turkeys produced 3.5 poults per hen, which was the highest value ever recorded for this region. This amazing productivity was nearly just as good last summer. The combination of these two back-to-back record hatches has resulted in a significant turkey boom. Many hunting clubs along the Mississippi River are reporting more birds than they’ve had in decades and the spillover has resulted in turkeys showing up in new places throughout the region. Without a doubt, the spring of 2024 should be one of the best turkey seasons in ages in the Delta.
East-central Mississippi
East-central Mississippi hasn’t had a poor hatch since 2020, and so it should come as no surprise that turkey sightings have increased steadily across the region over the past three years. During the 2023 spring season, more jakes were seen than any year since 2013. In fact, jake observations were 25% above the average of the past decade. This should spell an abundance of two-year-olds for the upcoming 2024 season, which promises to make it one of the best in years.
Southwest Mississippi
While populations in Southwest Mississippi have trended downward over the past decade, 2024 looks to be a solid rebound. Very strong hatches in the past two years have created a substantial turkey turn around. Based on poult per hen counts from the MDWFP brood survey, the summers of 2022 and 2023 were the best back-to-back hatches in the region since 2000 and 2001. Unsurprisingly, jake sightings in the region shot up 53% year-over-year in 2023. With more turkeys on the landscape, and a guaranteed bumper crop of two-year-olds, the 2024 spring looks to be a memorable one for Southwest Mississippi.
Southeast Mississippi
It’s been a long time since the Pine Belt could boast the title of Mississippi’s turkey hot spot, but it could regain this crown in 2024. Last season, Southeast Mississippi led all other regions in harvest success, with avid hunters taking 3.2 gobblers per 100 hours afield. Turkey sightings jumped to their highest value since the year 2000, likely because of the second-best hatch on record in 2022. Jake sightings last spring were 36% above the region’s 25-year average. In fact, jake observations in the region have been on a steady march upward for nearly a decade. There is a very good chance the 2024 season may go down as one of the best since the 1990s in southeast Mississippi.
